Method of and means for sealing vessels.



PATENTED NOV. 8, 1904.

ALING VBSSEI SB. 190s.

J. M. HIUK3.

METHOD OF AND MEANS PO APPLICATION FILED D N0 MODEL.

Wilma Jaw M Q WWW UNITED STATES .Patented November 8, 1904-.

PATENT Orrrce. I

JAMES MILNOR HICKS, OF SUMMIT, NEWV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO ABBOT AUGUSTUS LOW, OF HORSESHQE, NEW YORK.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR SEALING VESSELSL SPECIFICATION forming'part of Letters Patent No. 774,425, dated November 8, 1904.

Applicationfiled December 24, 1903. Serial No. 186,484.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMEs MILNoR HIoKs, a citizen of the United States,'and a resident of Summit, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Method of and Means for Sealing Vessels, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to sealing vessels against leakage; and it consists in a certain method of procedure and means fully specified and claimed hereinafter.

In order that persons skilled in the art to which my invention appertains may understand and practice my invention, I will proceed to describe it, referring to the. drawings herewith, in which Figure 1 is a part elevation and part central longitudinal section of a bottle provided with a sealing-cap secured upon it and provided with a compressible under lining as it appears in the first stage of my procedure. Fig. 2 is thesame as it appears in the second and final stage of my procedure and showing a plunger located above the bottle which is used to carry out the final stage of my procedure, the bottle and cap being in one half-section, and in the other half the bottle, one-half outside View, and the cap thereon being in one halfsection. Fig. 3 is a top view of Fig. 1 in part section to show indent in cap and vertical groove in bead at top of bottle-neck. Fig. & is a top view of Fig. 2 without the cap-forming tool at the top of Fig. 2. It shows the indents in the cap.

A is the neck of a bottle.

B is an outer pendent flange to the cap.

C is the top surface of the cap.

D is a compressible lining located under the top surface C.

B is a circumferential bead formed upon the top of neck Aand provided with vertical slots therein to agree with indents E in flange B to secure the cap over the mouth of the bottle.

' F represents indents in said flange B to limit the circumferential movement of the cap in securing it upon the bottle.

G is the inner wall of the bottle-mouth.

(N0 model.)

H is a bead located beneath bead B and forming between bead B and H a circumferential groove, into which indents'E take to hold the cap on the bottle-mouth, as shown in my former patent, of December 8, 1903, No. 7%,329.

The means hereby provided, consisting of a cap with a substantially flat top and means for holding it upon the bottle-mouth, is placed upon the bottle and secured, as shown in Fig. 1, the compressible lining D being uncompressed or slightly compressed. This is of course done after the bottle has received its contents. The bottle is then placed under a compress, and the central portion of the cap is forced substantially into the shape shown in Fig. 2, the under compressible lining D being pressed against the inner surface of the bottle-mouth and between it and the central depression 0 of the cap, so that a tight joint is made.

I do not'confine myself to the use of any special form of cap or means for securing it upon a vessel-mouth. as any convenient form of cap having an upper surface over the vessel-mouth and a means for securing it in such position may be employed in the first stage of the operation of sealing, provided only that it is capable of being compressed as to its central portion, with its inner .compressible lining, into the mouth of the bottle and into such a shape therein as may best conform the inner compressible lining to the conformations of the bottle-mouth and its inequalities.

In forming the usual bead upon the exterior of a bottle-neck near or at its top great variations occur in the depth of the head, which requires variations in the cap which takes under the head to secure it on the bottle-neck, necessitatingmachinery to perform the operation of a character which is expensive and intricate in order to make the cap fit these variations. In my invention no such and its lining inward and downward, so that a perfect sealing is accomplished thereby, as before specified.

By my invention bottles varying in shape and size may be perfectly sealed by using what I claim as new and as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The within -described method of sealing vessels, which consists in first securing a cap over the mouth of the vessel, and then depressing the central portion of the top of the cap into the mouth of the vessel and conforming it to the shape of and forcing it against the inner walls of the vessel-mouth, substantially as specified.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 19th day of December, A. D. 1903.

JAMES MILNOR HICKS.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. HICKS, STACY R. HILLS. 

